Bytes to string inside a foreach statement

Question

I am trying to write a method to scramble a message by adding 2 to the byte value of each character and then print the new message. This is what I got so far:

public static void MsgToCode(string value)
    {

        byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value);
        foreach (var item in bytes)
        {
            byte b2= item;
            b2 = (byte)(b2 + 2);


        }
        Console.ReadLine();
    }

I tried using b2.ToString inside the foreach statement. But it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

See here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11654562/how-convert-byte-array-to-string — sr28, Dec 15 '15 at 10:42
Questions seeking debugging help ("why isn't this code working?") must include the desired behavior, a specific problem or error and the shortest code necessary to reproduce it in the question itself. Questions without a clear problem statement are not useful to other readers. See: [How to create a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example](https://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve). — Albireo, Dec 15 '15 at 10:49
Are you expecting to convert this back at any point? Or just to scramble it into nonsense? — Matt Hogan-Jones, Dec 15 '15 at 10:50
`var scrambled = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value).S‌elect(b => (byte)(b + 2)).ToArray()); var unscrambled = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(scrambled).S‌elect(b => (byte)(b - 2)).ToArray());` — Corak, Dec 15 '15 at 11:04
I intend to convert it back later. I hope to be able to solve that on my own, but we will see how it goes. — Patrik Gustafsson, Dec 15 '15 at 13:35

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 15 '15 at 10:59

0

What is going to happen if you try to cast the character(255) + 2 to byte? You might have to reconsider what you are doing here. If you just want to encrypt the text there are several libraries for you to use!

answered Dec 15 '15 at 10:59

Michael Kanios

59
6

I will probably solve that with some kind of if statement. – Patrik Gustafsson Dec 15 '15 at 13:45

Theunis · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-15T11:05:53.930

Is this what you are looking for?

public static void MsgToCode(string value)
{

    byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value);
    var sb = new StringBuilder();
    foreach (var item in bytes)
    {
        sb.Append((Convert.ToInt32(item) + 2));
    }
    Console.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
    Console.ReadLine();
}

Or Maybe you want this

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    MsgToCode("Test");
}

public static void MsgToCode(string value)
{
    var bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(value);
    var newBytes = new byte[bytes.Length];
    for (int i = 0; i < bytes.Length; i++)
    {
        var newValue = Convert.ToInt32(bytes[i]) + 2;
        if (newValue > 255)
            newValue -= 255;
        newBytes[i] = Convert.ToByte(newValue);
    }
    Console.WriteLine(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(newBytes));
    Console.ReadLine();
}

As suggested by the other users, there are many libraries out their that can encrypt and decrypt your string. As I believe this is what you are trying to achieve. — Theunis, Dec 17 '15 at 05:43

Bytes to string inside a foreach statement

2 Answers2